Wendi Riggens Photography Blog – Burlington Iowa

The last weekend of October, I am co-hosting a small photography workshop in Burlington, and we are looking for subjects to photograph.  I am in charge of finding bridal models, and wanted to come here before going to the pros as I have for other conferences and workshops.

If you are interested in some unique bridal portraits in your own dress, doing a “trash the dress” session, or just getting dolled up and having some fun, please shoot me an email at contact@inspiredimagesbywendi.com.  If you don’t want to use your own dress, or do not have one, we do have access to a few.  We are also looking for a couple “grooms”.  Grooms are just asked to show up in a nice suit, tux is not required, just nice pants and jacket if possible.

Interested parties, please send me the following information:
-Name, address, phone, and email
-Age (you must be over 18, this is simply for release purposes, no risque images will be taken)
-Size or measurements (note that wedding gowns do not always match the same size as your street clothes; if you do not know what your wedding dress size is, and we select you to model, I can arrange to get you sized)
-Any prior modeling experience (previous exp. not required)
-Why you are the perfect person for this!
-A picture, if possible

What we will provide:
-Hair and makeup
-Wedding gown, if needed
-Food and drinks

What is asked of you:
-Positive attitude and lots of smiles, and the ability to not smile if asked! 🙂
-Ability to take direction
-Patience
-3-4 hours of time, possibly more once we figure out the timeline for hair/makeup

As a thank you for your time, you will receive a set number of edited images from each photographer in attendance, either in the form of prints, images on disc, or in a small album (this will be determined once we know how many photographers will be in attendance).

I look forward to hearing from you!.

Last night, I was motivated.  I thought about doing dishes (because my husband has been slacking this week), laundry (because I’ve been slacking this week), sewing some material that I bought two months ago into a blanket for baby, unpack more stuff for my gallery, organize the closet in the nursery, pack my hospital bag, and a few dozen other things.

What did I do instead?

I started updating my website!

I know, long time coming, right?

While on maternity leave, I will actually be working with a web designer to completely revamp my site into something truly custom and “me”, but until then, I updated the galleries on my site with some more recent work that speaks more to the style.  Devan and certain blog-stalkers (no names!) have been on my case for a while now because it had been way too long since I’d done anything on it, and even though I had everything sorted into files on my laptop, they hadn’t actually gotten up yet.

It isn’t quite done, I was having issues with my FTP client last night uploading everything, so the homepage slideshow isn’t loading yet, and it took me a couple hours to get it to upload the correct size of vertical images for the galleries, but those are at least up.  Minor updates were made to the info pages, too.

I hope to get the homepage fixed tonight, so patience, please!  In the meantime, puruse the galleries, let me know if something isn’t loading right, and enjoy!

 And whatever you do, don’t tell Travis (my husband) that I crawled into bed literally seconds before his alarm went off to leave for work this morning.  He has to get up at 2:40 to drive to work in Illinois (he is carpooling with a coworker), and I hadn’t even gotten my pillows adjusted and blanket over me when his alarm went off.  🙂  He gets after me for staying up too late, but I don’t like stopping in the middle of things!  Besides, I likely would have been laying awake in bed anyway since I just can’t get comfy anymore!  🙂

Speaking of patience, I am patiently waiting to have this baby.  Today is 36 weeks, which means if I go into labor, I could be delivered!!!  I was showing progress at my appointment on Tuesday, but the docs think I can make it quite a while longer.  Travis and I are hoping before the end of the month, but aren’t holding our breaths.  Last night while I was working on the site, Baby Boy was pushing and playing and keeping me entertained, and I will really miss that!.

I just wanted to extend a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to all of my amazing clients and friends.  The last few weeks have been rough as we’re dealing with the last stages of pregnancy and issues with the gestational diabetes that is taking over.  I ran into two of my wedding clients today, and hearing their words of encouragement and support and excitement over my little baby made me realize just how amazing the people I work with and for are.  I have received so much support from all of you through this journey, and it means more to me than I can even begin to express.  THANK YOU to everyone, to my clients and my friends (and my blog-stalkers) for everything!

 And because so many of you are from out of state, here is a quick snapshot of my “growth”, as I call him. 🙂  This is a true snapshot, too, shot in “P” mode, which means I let the camera do whatever it wants, taken in the mirror at the bottom of our steps, in fading daylight after our appointment this afternoon.  I have a hard enough time balancing on the steps and holding a heavy camera, and was exhausted from a long day at the doctor’s office, so nothing fancy.  Devan did my maternity session a few weeks ago, so I’ll share a few of those when we get them.

 As of today, I am 35 weeks and 5 days, and I quite tired of being pregnant, but with the exception of a few Braxton Hicks contractions, there are no signs of labor anywhere in the near, near future.  Only 4 weeks to go!

On the business side, I am officially on “leave”.  I will continue to answer my phone as able, and am setting aside one day a week to meet with clients and potential clients, but otherwise I am not shooting or setting other appointments until mid-September.  I will continue to take orders for prints and albums, though there will be a bit of a delay depending on baby’s plans.  I will be placing orders to my labs once a week, and as we near my due date and the first month after baby arrives, once every two weeks, and will be shipping once a week as well.  I am attempting to check email daily, though as we get closer, and especially right after baby arrives, email responses will be delayed.  I don’t like to make people wait, but unfortunately, I am having to swallow some pride and admit that I can’t do everything and be the “ninja photographer” that I’ve been dubbed by a few clients! 🙂

I’ll update as I can.  The mother-of-the-bride requested that I send an email out to everyone once baby gets here, so if you are interested on being on the “baby annoucement” email list, let me know!  And if anyone wants to send flowers to the hospital while we are there, I only ask that you don’t send balloons.  Silly confession, but I am terrified of balloons and will likely spend more time crying than the baby will!  Yeah, it is a ridiculous fear!  My husband is afraid of clowns.  You can bet our kid will never have a circus-themed birthday party.  🙂.